Detection and correction of fuse re-growth in a microprocessor

ABSTRACT

A microprocessor includes a first plurality of fuses selectively blown with control values, a second plurality of fuses selectively blown collectively with an error correction value computed from the control values, control hardware that receives the control values and provides them to circuits of the microprocessor for controlling operation thereof. A state machine, serially coupled to the control hardware and to the fuses, serially scans the control values from the first fuses to the control hardware and serially scans the control values and the error correction value to a first register. The microprocessor reads the control values and error correction value from the first register, detects and corrects an error in the control values using the error correction value, writes the corrected control values to a second register, and causes the state machine to serially scan the corrected control values from the second register to the control hardware.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Application,Ser. No. 61/232,247 (CNTR.2492), filed Aug. 7, 2009, entitled METHOD FORDETECTING UNCORRECTABLE RE-GROWN FUSES IN A MICROPROCESSOR, which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application is related to the following U.S. Non-ProvisionalApplications, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety, and each of which is subject to an obligation of assignment tocommon assignee VIA Technologies, Inc.:

Ser. No. Filing Date Title 12/609,207 Oct. 30, 2009 DETECTION ANDCORRECTION OF FUSE RE- (CNTR.2490) GROWTH IN A MICROPROCESSOR TBDconcurrent DETECTION OF UNCORRECTABLE RE-GROWN (CNTR.2492) herewithFUSES IN A MICROPROCESSOR TBD concurrent USER-INITIATABLE METHOD FORDETECTING (CNTR.2493) herewith RE-GROWN FUSES WITHIN A MICROPROCESSORTBD concurrent DETECTION OF FUSE RE-GROWTH IN A (CNTR.2495) herewithMICROPROCESSOR

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to the field ofmicroprocessors, and particularly to the use of fuses inmicroprocessors.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Modern microprocessors include fuses that may be selectively blownduring manufacturing of the microprocessor. The fuses may be selectivelyblown with control values that are read from the fuses to controloperation of the microprocessor. Normally, when a non-blown fuse is readit returns a binary zero, and when a blown fuse is read it returns abinary one (although, of course, the convention could be reversed).However, the present inventors have observed microprocessors operatingin the field that have blown fuses that change their value; that is,they return the incorrect binary zero value, in some casesintermittently, even though they returned the correct binary one valuewhen tested during manufacturing. This is referred to as a fuse“re-growing,” or fuse “re-growth.” That is, a blown fuse may bephysically altered by continual operation of the microprocessor suchthat when read, the fuse returns its non-blown value rather than itsblown value. The consequences of this fuse re-growth can be disastrousto the subsequent operation of the microprocessor, depending upon theparticular use of the value in the re-grown fuse. Additionally, thesymptoms caused by a re-grown fuse can be very difficult to detectduring failure analysis.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/609,207 (CNTR.2490), describes asolution to this problem that employs EDAC fuses. This is a solution forfuses that are correctable. That is, most of the fuses are used topopulate control hardware that is written by the microcode.Specifically, the microcode reads the values from the fuses, correctsthe values using the EDAC fuses if necessary, and then writes thecorrected values to the hardware, e.g., model specific register (MSR),feature control register (FCR), patch hardware, etc. However, some ofthe fuses are not correctable by microcode. That is, when the chippowers up, the values in the uncorrectable fuses are scanned directly tohardware registers without giving the microcode the ability to correctthem using the EDAC technique. Examples are cache correction fuses andPLL adjustment fuses. In one embodiment of the microprocessor, microcodecannot read the uncorrectable fuses.

Therefore, what is needed is a way to determine whether theuncorrectable fuses have re-grown.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In one aspect the present invention provides a microprocessor. Themicroprocessor includes a first plurality of fuses, selectively blownwith control values. The microprocessor also includes a second pluralityof fuses, selectively blown collectively with an error correction valuecomputed from the control values. The microprocessor also includescontrol hardware, configured to receive the control values and toprovide the control values to circuits of the microprocessor forcontrolling operation of the microprocessor. The microprocessor alsoincludes a state machine, serially coupled to the control hardware andto the first and second plurality of fuses. The state machine isconfigured to serially scan the control values from the first pluralityof fuses to the control hardware and to serially scan the control valuesand the error correction value to a first register. The microprocessoris configured to: read the control values and error correction valuefrom the first register; detect and correct an error in the controlvalues using the error correction value; write the corrected controlvalues to a second register; and cause the state machine to seriallyscan the corrected control values from the second register to thecontrol hardware.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method forinitializing a microprocessor. The method includes serially scanningcontrol values from a first plurality of fuses to circuits of themicroprocessor for controlling operation of the microprocessor, whereinthe first plurality of fuses are selectively blown with the controlvalues. The method also includes serially scanning the control valuesfrom the first plurality of fuses and an error correction value from asecond plurality of fuses to a first register, wherein the secondplurality of fuses are selectively blown collectively with an errorcorrection value computed from the control values. The method alsoincludes reading the control values and the error correction value fromthe first register. The method also includes detecting and correcting anerror in the control values using the error correction value. The methodalso includes writing the corrected control values to a second register.The method also includes causing the corrected control values to beserially scanned from the second register to the control hardware.

In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a computer programproduct encoded in at least one computer readable medium for use with acomputing device, the computer program product comprising computerreadable program code embodied in said medium, for specifying amicroprocessor. The computer readable program code includes firstprogram code for specifying a first plurality of fuses, selectivelyblown with control values. The computer readable program code alsoincludes second program code for specifying a second plurality of fuses,selectively blown collectively with an error correction value computedfrom the control values. The computer readable program code alsoincludes third program code for specifying control hardware, configuredto receive the control values and to provide the control values tocircuits of the microprocessor for controlling operation of themicroprocessor. The computer readable program code also includes fourthprogram code for specifying a state machine, serially coupled to thecontrol hardware and to the first and second plurality of fuses. Thestate machine is configured to serially scan the control values from thefirst plurality of fuses to the control hardware and to serially scanthe control values and the error correction value to a first register.The microprocessor is configured to: read the control values and errorcorrection value from the first register; detect and correct an error inthe control values using the error correction value; write the correctedcontrol values to a second register; and cause the state machine toserially scan the corrected control values from the second register tothe control hardware.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating operation of steps performed tomanufacture the microprocessor of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating operation of steps performed tomanufacture the microprocessor of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating operation of steps performed tomanufacture the microprocessor of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 7.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating operation of steps performed tomanufacture the microprocessor of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating operation of the microprocessor ofFIG. 12.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments are described herein that provide microcode of themicroprocessor the ability to read the uncorrectable fuses. When a partis manufactured, the number of the uncorrectable fuses that are going toblown in the part is determined. For example, assume there are 1000uncorrectable fuses, and 147 of them are to be blown. Next, that numberis taken and blown as a signature somewhere in a set of the fuses thatare correctable by microcode via the EDAC technique described above.When the microprocessor is reset and the reset microcode runs, it readsall the uncorrectable fuses to count how many are blown, and thencompares that number with the signature read from the correctable fuses(after the correctable fuses are corrected, if necessary). If thecounted number and the signature are not equal, the part is not allowedto come out of reset, or alternatively, the error is posted to asoftware-readable register.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor100 is shown. The microprocessor 100 includes fuses 172. In oneembodiment, the fuses 172 are polysilicon fuses, although other fusetechnologies, such as metal fuses, may be employed within theembodiments described herein. The fuses 172, although physically thesame, are logically allocated as two separate groups, namely errordetection and correction (EDAC) fuses 132 and data fuses, and the datafuses are further separated into correctable data fuses 152 anduncorrectable data fuses 192. Whether a particular fuse 172 is allocatedas a data fuse or as an EDAC fuse 132, depends upon the particular EDACalgorithm employed by the manufacturer of the microprocessor 100, asdescribed herein.

The fuses 172 are configured such that the manufacturer of themicroprocessor 100 may supply a prescribed voltage on an input 136 tothe microprocessor 100 in order to selectively blow the fuses 172 on anindividual basis. In one embodiment, the manufacturer specifies whichfuse 172 to blow via a JTAG scan interface. In one embodiment, one sideof each fuse 172 is connected to ground and the other side of the fuseis connected to an active device, such as to an input of a transistor,which is readable by the microprocessor 100. Thus, if a fuse 172 isnon-blown, it will conduct and be read as a low voltage (binary zero byconvention); whereas, if a fuse 172 is blown, it will not conduct and beread as a high voltage (binary one by convention). Other embodiments arecontemplated in which the opposite binary value convention is employed.

Although the fuses 172 may be individually blown during manufacturingand each fuse 172 constitutes a single binary digit (bit), logically thecorrectable data fuses 152 are viewed as a single entity having a singlecollective value blown into them, and the EDAC fuses 132 are viewed as asingle entity having a single collective value blown into them. Themanufacturer computes the single collective value blown into the EDACfuses 132 using an EDAC algorithm that takes the single value blown intothe correctable data fuses 152 as its input, as described in more detailherein.

The microprocessor 100 also includes control hardware 124. The controlhardware 124 is configured to receive and store a control value 134 andto provide the control value 134 to various circuits of themicroprocessor 100 for controlling operation of the microprocessor 100.The control hardware 124 may include, but is not limited to, thefollowing: microcode patch hardware used for patching microcode (in oneembodiment, the patch hardware is substantially similar to thatdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/782,105 (CNTR.2412),filed on Jul. 24, 2007, entitled CONFIGURABLE FUSE MECHANISM FORIMPLEMENTING MICROCODE PATCHES, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety for all purposes); feature control registersof the microprocessor 100 used to enable or disable and/or indicate thepresence or absence of features or functional units of themicroprocessor 100, such as a floating point unit (FPU), an MMX unit, anSSE unit, caches and translation-lookaside buffers (TLBs), a call/returnstack, a random number generator, an encryption engine, afused-multiply-add instruction feature, microcode patch-relatedfeatures, virtual machine extensions (VMX), performance monitoringfeatures, processor stepping and family information, prefetchingfeatures, branch prediction features, features related to page tablewalking, and power management features; configuration registers of themicroprocessor 100, for controlling the frequency of one or more clocksignals within the microprocessor 100 or controlling voltage levelswithin the microprocessor 100, among other things.

In a conventional microprocessor, the values are read from fuses andwritten to the control hardware without the benefit of error detectionand correction. As discussed above, if a blown fuse has re-grown suchthat it will conduct and incorrectly be read as a zero instead of a one,there is a high likelihood that the conventional microprocessor will notoperate properly because the value written to one of the controlhardware is incorrect. However, the microprocessor 100 also includes theEDAC fuses 132 that are used to detect an incorrect value read from thecorrectable data fuses 152 due to a re-grown fuse 172 and to correct theincorrect value so that the correct value is written to the controlhardware 124.

The microprocessor 100 also includes an instruction cache 102 thatcaches program instructions fetched and executed by the microprocessor100. The program instructions may include user program instructions,such as system software or application programs or utilities.

The microprocessor 100 also includes an instruction translator 104 thatreceives instructions from the instruction cache 102 and, in the case ofsome instructions of the macroinstruction set of the microprocessor 100,translates the instructions (also referred to as macroinstructions) intoone or more microinstructions that are actually executed by executionunits 114 of the microprocessor 100. The microinstructions tend to besimpler than the macroinstructions. However, for some instructions ofthe macroinstruction set of the microprocessor 100, the instructiontranslator 104 transfers control to microcode sequences ofmicroinstructions stored in a microcode ROM (not shown) of a microcodeunit 116.

The microcode ROM of the microcode unit 116 also stores sequences ofmicroinstructions of reset microcode 122. When the microprocessor 100 isreset, the microcode unit 116 begins fetching and executingmicroinstructions of the reset microcode 122. The reset microcode 122performs various operations to initialize the microprocessor 100 toprepare it to begin fetching and executing user program instructions. Inparticular, the reset microcode 122 programs the control hardware 124 ofthe microprocessor 100 with the control value 134. The microprocessor100 generates the control value 134 based on the values read from thefuses 172, which are blown at manufacturing time. However, as discussedabove, the fuses 172 may re-grow after having been blown such that theychange their value from a blown value to a non-blown value. Themicroprocessor 100 also includes the EDAC fuses 132 that enable themicroprocessor 100 to correct errors in the value read from the datafuses 152. As discussed below in more detail, a signature 188 thatspecifies the number of the uncorrectable fuses 192 to be blown atmanufacturing time is stored into the correctable data fuses 152 whenthe correctable fuses 152 are blown. Advantageously, the reset microcode122 counts the number of blown uncorrectable fuses 192 and compares thecounted number with the signature 188, or count, of blown uncorrectablefuses 192 that was stored in the correctable fuses 152 data atmanufacturing time. This enables the reset microcode 122 to detectre-grown uncorrectable fuses 192, as described in more detail below.

The microprocessor 100 also includes an instruction dispatcher 106 thatreceives microinstructions, either from the instruction translator 104or from the microcode unit 116, such as the instructions of the resetmicrocode 122, and dispatches the microinstructions to the executionunits 114. The execution units 114 include one or more integer unitsthat include arithmetic and logic units for performing arithmetic andlogical operations. In particular, the execution units 114 areconfigured to perform Boolean exclusive-OR (XOR) operations on inputoperands, which the reset microcode 122 uses to perform the EDACalgorithm to detect and correct errors in the values read from the fuses172. Additionally, the execution units 114 are configured to performarithmetic operations on input operands, which the reset microcode 122uses to perform the counting of blown uncorrectable fuses 192, and toperform comparison operations to compare the counted number of blownuncorrectable fuses 192 with the signature 188 stored in the correctablefuses 152 to detect re-growth errors in the uncorrectable fuses 192. Theexecution units 114 also execute instructions that read data from andwrite data to the control hardware 124.

The execution units 114 also execute instructions that read data fromand write data to a temporary storage 144. In one embodiment, thetemporary storage 144 is a random access memory (RAM). In oneembodiment, the RAM is substantially as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/034,503 (CNTR.2349), filed Feb. 20, 2008,entitled MICROPROCESSOR WITH PRIVATE MICROCODE RAM, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/910,982, filed on Apr. 10,2007, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety for all purposes. In particular, as described below withrespect to FIG. 3, the reset microcode 122: reads the data fuses 152 andwrites the value read into the temporary storage 144 as data fuse value126; reads the EDAC fuses 132 and writes the value read into thetemporary storage 144 as EDAC fuse value 128; and reads the data fusevalue 126 and EDAC fuse value 128 to generate a corrected data fusevalue 118 that it writes into the temporary storage 144 and subsequentlyreads from the temporary storage 144 for use in writing to the controlhardware 124. The corrected data fuse value 118 includes the correctedsignature value 183 of the signature 188 value read from the correctablefuses 152. Finally, the number 194 of blown uncorrectable fuses 192counted by the microcode 122 is stored in temporary storage 144, asdescribed in more detail below.

After the microprocessor 100 has read the fuses 172, corrected the datafuse value 126 if necessary, written the control hardware 124, and begunfetching and executing user program instructions, the microprocessor 100also reads or writes portions of the control hardware 124 in response touser program instructions requesting to read or write the controlhardware 124. In one embodiment, the user program instructions are thex86 architecture RDMSR and WRMSR instructions.

As described above, one difference between the correctable fuses 152 andthe uncorrectable fuses 192 is that the values 164 of the uncorrectablefuses 192 are provided directly to the circuits they control without theability for the microcode 122 to correct them using the EDAC fuses 132.Uses of the uncorrectable fuses 192 include the following, but are notlimited thereto. If the manufacturer of the microprocessor 100determines that a column of bitcells in a cache memory is bad, he canblow one of the uncorrectable fuses 192 to cause the cache memory to usea redundant column of bitcells instead of the bad column. The cachememories may include, but are not limited to, a L1 cache data array, aL2 cache tag array, and a branch target address cache array. Some of theuncorrectable fuses 192 control: the duty cycle or other controls forvarious phase-locked loops (PLLS) of the microprocessor 100; charge pumpsettings; clock the ratio of the PLLs; settings for input/output pads,including to allow debugging of multiprocessing features; whetherselective clocks are moved inside the microprocessor 100 to improvefrequency; redundancy of fuses in case other fuses fail; fuses used onlyby manufacturing for identification purposes; setting voltage identifier(VID) pins; and BSEL pins to control voltage and clock multipliers.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a flowchart illustrating operation of stepsperformed to manufacture the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1 is shown. Flowbegins at block 201.

At block 201, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines thesignature 188, which is the number of uncorrectable fuses 192 that willbe blown. Flow proceeds to block 202.

At block 202, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines the desiredcontrol value to be blown into the correctable data fuses 152. Each datafuse 152 constitutes a single bit that has a binary value of either zeroor one, depending on whether it is blown or non-blown. The bit valueread from each data fuse 152 will be either written directly to a bit ofthe control hardware 124 or used to generate a bit value that will bewritten to a bit of the control hardware 124, as described with respectto blocks 312 and 316 of FIG. 3. Thus, at block 202, the manufacturerdetermines which of the fuses 172 will be allocated as a correctabledata fuse 152 and which of the fuses 172 will be allocated as an EDACfuse 132, associates each correctable data fuse 152 with a bit in thecontrol hardware 124 and determines the desired bit value to be blowninto the data fuse 152. For example, the manufacturer may determine thatit wants a particular data fuse 152 to store a bit that is used toselectively toggle a default microcode value that controls whether aparticular branch prediction feature of the microprocessor 100 isenabled or disabled, and determines whether it wants the data fuse 152to be blown or unblown in order to provide the desired binary value totoggle the default value. The manufacturer does this for each data fuse152. Although each data fuse 152 constitutes a single bit, from theperspective of generating the value to be blown into the EDAC fuses 132(at block 204 below), the data fuses 152 are viewed as a single entityhaving a single collective value blown into them, or as a plurality ofwords each having a single collective value, as discussed more withrespect to block 204. In this sense, the single collective value ispredetermined prior to manufacture of the microprocessor 100 and priorto its operation after being manufactured. Additionally, the controlvalue includes the signature 188 that was determined at block 201 andthat will be blown into the correctable data fuses 152 at block 206.Flow proceeds to block 204.

At block 204, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the controlvalue determined at block 202 to compute the EDAC value to be blown intothe EDAC fuses 132. In one embodiment, the EDAC algorithm is a singleerror correction double error detection (SECDED) (72,64) Hamming codealgorithm such as is well-known in the art of EDAC; however, other EDACalgorithms may be employed in the embodiments described herein. Avertical code algorithm will now be described.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the reset microcode 122 of FIG. 1 performsthe EDAC algorithm in software to read the fuses 172 and detect andcorrect errors therein at block 306. Hence, in this embodiment, themanufacturer employs a vertical code algorithm to compute the EDAC valueat block 204, and the reset microcode 122 employs the vertical codealgorithm at block 306. In one embodiment, the fuses 172 used ascorrectable fuses 152 and EDAC fuses 132 are configured as 58 banks,with each bank having 64 fuses, i.e., each bank is 64 bits wide. (Asimilar embodiment is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,663,957 (CNTR.2427),which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for allpurposes.) The first 50 banks are logically allocated as banks forcorrectable data fuses 152 and the last 8 banks are logically allocatedas banks for EDAC fuses 132. Thus, the control value determined at block202 is logically 50 control words of 64 bits each, and the EDACalgorithm generates 8 EDAC words that are 64 bits each. The manufacturerapplies the EDAC algorithm on bit slices of the 50 control words. Thatis, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the bits in bitposition 0 of the 50 control words to generate the 8 EDAC word bits inbit position 0, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the bitsin bit position 1 of the 50 control words to generate the 8 EDAC wordbits in bit position 1, and so forth. (Since the EDAC algorithm assumes64 input bits to generate 8 EDAC bits, but there are only 50 controlwords, the manufacturer assumes all the bits in the “missing” 14 controlwords as zero).

Additionally, an alternate embodiment that employs a horizontal codealgorithm is contemplated, as described with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5 ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/609,207 (CNTR.2490). In thealternate embodiment, a hardware EDAC unit performs the EDAC algorithmin hardware to read the fuses 172 that are used as the correctable fuses152 and EDAC fuses 132 and detect and correct errors therein. Hence, inthis embodiment, the manufacturer employs a horizontal code algorithm tocompute the EDAC value, and the EDAC unit employs the horizontal codealgorithm. In one embodiment, the correctable fuses 152 and EDAC fuses132 are configured as 50 banks, with each bank having 72 fuses, i.e.,each bank is 72 bits wide. The fuses in the first 64 bit positions ofeach bank are logically allocated as data fuses 152 and the fuses in thelast 8 bit positions of each bank are logically allocated as EDAC fuses132. Thus, as in the embodiment of the previous paragraph, the controlvalue determined at block 202 is logically 50 control words of 64 bitseach; however, in this embodiment, the EDAC algorithm generates 50 EDACwords that are 8 bits each. The manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithmon a bank-by-bank basis. That is, the manufacturer applies the EDACalgorithm to the 64-bit control word associated with bank 0 to generatethe 8-bit EDAC word associated with bank 0, the manufacturer applies theEDAC algorithm to the 64-bit control word associated with bank 1 togenerate the 8-bit EDAC word associated with bank 1, and so forth.

It is noted that in both the vertical and horizontal embodiments, theEDAC value is computed based on the control value that includes thesignature 188 that was determined at block 201 and that will be blowninto the correctable data fuses 152 at block 206. Flow proceeds to block206.

At block 206, the manufacturer blows the control value determined atblock 202 into the data fuses 152 and blows the EDAC value computed atblock 204 into the EDAC fuses 132. Additionally, the manufacturer blowsthe uncorrectable fuses 192, and in particular blows the uncorrectablefuses 192 whose number was determined at block 201. Flow ends at block206.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 1 is shown. Flow begins at block 302.

At block 302, the microprocessor 100 is reset and responsively beginsfetching and executing instructions of the reset microcode 122. Flowproceeds to block 304.

At block 304, the reset microcode 122 reads the data fuses 152 and EDACfuses 132 and writes the data fuse value 126 and EDAC fuse value 128into the temporary storage 144. The values read from the correctabledata fuses 152 and EDAC fuses 132 at block 304 include the signature 188that is the number of blown uncorrectable fuses 192. In one embodiment,the microinstruction set of the microprocessor includes an instructionto move the value of a bank of the fuses 172 into a general purposeregister (not shown) of the microprocessor 100, and an instruction tomove a value from a general purpose register to the temporary storage144. Furthermore, one of the execution units 114 is adapted to executethese instructions. The reset microcode 122 uses a sequence associatedwith each of the fuse 172 banks that includes one instruction to readeach fuse 172 bank and another instruction to write the value 126/128into the temporary storage 144. Flow proceeds to block 306.

At block 306, the reset microcode 122 applies the EDAC algorithm to thedata fuse value 126 and EDAC fuse value 128 in the temporary storage 144to determine whether there is an error in the data fuse value 126 and,if so, whether it is correctable. In one embodiment, themicroinstruction set of the microprocessor includes an instruction tomove a value from the temporary storage 144 to a general purposeregister, instructions to perform arithmetic and logical operations(such as exclusive-OR, shift, or rotate) on values in the generalpurpose registers, and an instruction to move a value from a generalpurpose register to the temporary storage 144. Furthermore, one of theexecution units 114 is adapted to execute these instructions. The resetmicrocode 122 uses a sequence of these instructions to apply the EDACalgorithm to the data fuse value 126 and EDAC fuse value 128 in thetemporary storage 144 to determine whether there is an error in the datafuse value 126 and, if so, whether it is correctable. In one embodiment,the reset microcode 122 employs a vertical code algorithm, as describedabove with respect to FIG. 2. Flow proceeds to decision block 308.

At decision block 308, the reset microcode 122 determines whether thereis an error in the data fuse value 126 based on the operation performedat block 306. If so, flow proceeds to block 314; otherwise, flowproceeds to decision block 312.

At block 312, the reset microcode 122 uses the data fuse value 126 towrite the control value 134 into the control hardware 124. In oneembodiment, the reset microcode 122 writes the data fuse value 126directly into the control hardware 124. In another embodiment, the resetmicrocode 122 modifies the data fuse value 126 to generate the controlvalue 134 for writing into the control hardware 124. For example, in oneembodiment, the reset microcode 122 exclusive-ORs the data fuse value126 with a default control value stored as a constant in the resetmicrocode 122 and writes the resulting control value 134 to the controlhardware 124. This enables the data fuse value 126 to serve as atoggling mechanism to toggle the microcode default control value, asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,679 (CNTR.1328), which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Furthermore,because the control hardware 124 may be multiple different types ofhardware as discussed above (e.g., microcode patch hardware, featurecontrol registers, configuration registers) and the data fuse value 126may have multiple different corresponding portions that include multipledifferent types of control values, the reset microcode 122 may writesome portions of the data fuse value 126 directly into portions of thecontrol hardware 124 and may modify other portions of the data fusevalue 126 before writing to the control hardware 124. Furthermore, itshould be understood that the reset microcode 122 may execute a sequenceof instructions to read the data fuse value 126 from the temporarystorage 144 and write the portions of the data fuse value 126 (ormodified portions thereof) to the control hardware 124. Flow proceeds toblock 322.

At decision block 314, the reset microcode 122 determines whether theerror detected at blocks 306/308 is correctable using the EDAC fusevalue 128. If so, flow proceeds to block 316; otherwise, flow proceedsto block 318.

At block 316, the reset microcode 122 corrects the erroneous data fusevalue 126 using the EDAC algorithm to generate the corrected data fusevalue 118 and uses the corrected data fuse value 118 to write as thecontrol value 134 into the control hardware 124. It is noted that thereset microcode 122 corrects the erroneous data fuse value 126 using theEDAC algorithm to generate the corrected data fuse value 118 regardlessof whether the reset microcode 122 uses the corrected data fuse value118 to write as the control value 134 into the control hardware 124.That is, the reset microcode 122 generates the corrected data fuse value118 regardless of whether an error is found at decision block 308 sothat the corrected signature value 183 in the temporary storage 144 maybe used to compare with the counted number 194 at decision block 324(discussed below). As discussed above with respect to block 312, thereset microcode 122 may modify the corrected data fuse value 118, or aportion thereof, before writing it to the control hardware 124. Becausethe values read from the correctable data fuses 152 and EDAC fuses 132at block 304 include the signature 188 as discussed above,advantageously, at block 316 the signature 188 value may be corrected aspart of the correction of the data fuse value, if necessary, and if thesignature 188 is uncorrectable this condition will be detected atdecision block 314 such that the uncorrectable error is acted uponappropriately at block 318. Flow proceeds to block 322.

At block 318, the reset microcode 122 prevents the microprocessor 100from coming out of reset. If flow proceeded to block 318 from decisionblock 314, this is because the number of bits in error in the data fusevalue 126 is too great for the microprocessor 100 to correct using theEDAC fuse value 128. That is, the reset microcode 122 prevents themicroprocessor 100 from fetching and executing user programinstructions. In an alternate embodiment, the reset microcode 122 allowsthe microprocessor 100 to come out of reset, i.e., to fetch and executeuser program instructions such as BIOS or other system software;however, the reset microcode 122 sends an error status to the systemsoftware to indicate that there was an uncorrectable error in the datafuse value 126. If flow proceeded to block 318 from block 324 (discussedbelow), the reset microcode 122 prevents the microprocessor 100 fromcoming out of reset because the reset microcode 122 determined that thesignature 188 read from the corrected data fuse value 118 in thetemporary storage 144 and compared with the number 194 counted at block322 (discussed below) is not equal. Flow ends at block 318.

At block 322, the microcode 122 reads the uncorrectable fuses 192 andcounts the number of them that are blown and writes the number 194 tothe temporary storage 144. Flow proceeds to decision block 324.

At decision block 324, the microcode 122 reads the signature 183 fromthe corrected data fuse value 118 in the temporary storage 144 andcompares the number 194 counted at block 322 with the signature 183 todetermine if they are equal. If not, flow proceeds to block 318;otherwise, flow proceeds to block 326. In another embodiment, themicrocode 122 reads the signature from the data fuse value 126 in thetemporary storage 144 and compares the number 194 counted at block 322with the signature to determine if they are equal. That is, themicrocode 122 uses a signature that has potentially not been correctedusing the EDAC algorithm at block 306.

At block 326, the microcode 122 causes the microprocessor 100 to beginexecuting user program instructions. Flow ends at block 326.

Regarding the solution to the problem of re-growing uncorrectable fuses192 described with respect to FIGS. 1-3, it is noted that the signature188 itself is blown into fuses 172, which themselves may re-grow. Theproblem with the signature 188 re-growing is somewhat amelioratedaccording to one embodiment by the fact that the signature 188 may beblown into the correctable fuses 152 that are subject to error detectionby the EDAC scheme described above. However, EDAC schemes have alimitation on the number of bits in error they can detect. Thus, thepossibility exists that too many of the correctable fuses 152 mayre-grow such that an error in the signature 188 may not be detected. Asolution to this problem is described with respect to FIGS. 4 through 6below.

More specifically, the problem is solved by blowing not only thesignature 188 but also the complement 186 of the signature (see FIG. 4)into the correctable fuses 152. Then the signature 188 and itscomplement 186 are read from the correctable fuses 152, a complementingoperation of the signature 188 is performed to generate a result, andthe result is compared with the complement 186 of the signature readfrom the correctable fuses 152. If the compare generates a mismatch,then an error has been detected. This solution potentially has higherreliability than the EDAC error detection scheme of FIGS. 1 through 3because in order not to detect an error in the signature 188, thecorresponding bits in the signature 188 and its complement 186 in thefuses 172 would have to invert their state. This would require a fuse172 in the signature 188 to go from a blown state to a non-blown state(e.g., re-grow), and the corresponding bit fuse 172 in the complement186 to go from a non-blown state to a blown state, or vice versa.However, although we have readily observed a fuse 172 go from a blownstate to a non-blown state (the larger problem we are trying to solve),we do not readily observe fuses 172 going from a non-blown state to ablown state. Consequently, it is highly improbable for thesignature/signature-complement scheme to not detect an error in thesignature 188 of blown uncorrectable fuses 192.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor100 according to an alternate embodiment is shown. The microprocessor100 of FIG. 4 is similar to the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1; therefore,only new and/or different elements will be described here. Onedifference is that the correctable fuses 152 include not only thesignature 188 that is the number of blown uncorrectable fuses 192, butalso include a signature complement 186, i.e., the Boolean invertedvalue of the signature 188. Furthermore, not only does the data fusevalue 126 read from the correctable data fuses 152 into the temporarystorage 144 include the signature 184, additionally it includes thesignature complement 185. Still further, the reset microcode 122computes the complement of the signature 184 as computed complement ofsignature 182.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrating operation of stepsperformed to manufacture the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 4 is shown. Flowbegins at block 201.

At block 201, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines thesignature, which is the number of uncorrectable fuses 192 that will beblown. Additionally, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines thecomplement of the signature. Flow proceeds to block 202.

At block 202, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines the desiredcontrol value to be blown into the correctable data fuses 152. The stepat block 202 of FIG. 5 is similar to the step at block 202 of FIG. 2.However, it is noted that the control value includes not only thesignature that was determined at block 201 and that will be blown intothe correctable data fuses 152 at block 206, but the control value alsoincludes the complement of the signature determined at block 201. Flowproceeds to block 204.

At block 204, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the controlvalue determined at block 202 to compute the EDAC value to be blown intothe EDAC fuses 132. The step at block 204 of FIG. 5 is similar to thestep at block 204 of FIG. 2. However, it is noted that the EDAC value iscomputed based on the control value that was determined at block 201 ofFIG. 5, which includes both the signature and the complement of thesignature. Flow proceeds to block 206.

At block 206, the manufacturer blows the control value determined atblock 202 into the data fuses 152 and blows the EDAC value computed atblock 204 into the EDAC fuses 132 similar to the step at block 206 ofFIG. 2. Flow ends at block 206.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 4 is shown. The steps performed in FIG. 6 aresimilar to the steps performed in FIG. 3 with the following differencesnoted.

At block 304, the data fuse value 126 read by the reset microcode 122from the data fuses 152 and written into the temporary storage 144includes the signature 184 and signature complement 185. Flow proceedsfrom block 304 to new block 652.

At block 652, the microcode 122 complements the signature 184 from thetemporary storage 144 to generate a result. The microcode 122 thencompares the result with the signature complement 182 from the temporarystorage 144. Flow proceeds to new decision block 654.

At decision block 654, the microcode 122 determines whether thecomparison performed at block 652 yields a match. If the complementedresult generated at block 652 matches the signature complement 182, flowproceeds to block 306; otherwise, flow proceeds to block 318 since themicroprocessor 100 has determined that an error in the signature 188and/or signature complement 186 developed.

An advantage of the embodiment of FIGS. 4 through 6 is that it does notrequire the signature 188 in the fuses 172 to be correctable by ECC, yetthe complement 186 provides an integrity check of the signature 188.

Regarding the solution to the problem of re-growing uncorrectable fuses192 described with respect to embodiments of FIGS. 1 through 6, thetests are run in response to a reset of the processor. If a fusere-growth error is detected at reset time, one option is to kill thepart, i.e., the reset microcode prevents the microprocessor part fromcoming out of reset. However, if the part kills itself, then thecomputer is completely dead to the BIOS and therefore dead to the user,i.e., the computer cannot run any code so it cannot even beep, or turnlights on or off, or generate any video messages to the user to indicatethe error. This makes it very difficult to gather meaningful fieldfailure information for failure analysis and resolution.

The other option is to let the part keep running and attempt to reportthe error somehow. However, the error reporting mechanisms available tothe processor itself (i.e., absent any external code running on it) arelimited, particularly since the processor reset code is not free to justwrite to memory, and even if it was the BIOS reset tests would likelyclobber it. If the reset-time processor fuse test error status is goingto be preserved, the BIOS must immediately read the error status as soonas it begins to run. This requires the system manufacturer to be willingto let the microprocessor 100 manufacturer add code to the BIOS that iscustom to its processor, particularly to read the error status reportedby the processor. However, the manufacturer may not have thisopportunity in all systems in which its processor is used.

A solution is to make the fuse tests user-initiated, rather than onlyreset-initiated. Therefore, a new model specific register (MSR) is addedto the microprocessor 100 such that when user software executes a WRMSRinstruction to the new MSR, the microprocessor 100 performs one or bothof the fuse tests described above and then reports any errors detected.This enables the software to present error messages to the user abouterrors detected. Additionally, it lets the user choose whether he wantsto proceed using the system or shut it down.

Additionally, whether to perform the fuse tests at reset time is anoption that may be selected at manufacturing time by selectively blowinga fuse to indicate which option (e.g., blown fuse indicates do not runfuse tests at reset time, unblown fuse indicates run fuse tests at resettime). However, fuses are unreliable, so rather than blowing a singlefuse to select the option, multiple fuses (187 of FIG. 7) are blown(e.g., four) and logically ORed together to determine which option wasselected. Even if the reset-time fuse test option is chosen, theuser-initiated fuse tests are still available via the WRMSR.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor100 according to an alternate embodiment is shown. The microprocessor100 of FIG. 7 is similar to the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 1; therefore,only new and/or different elements will be described here. Onedifference is that blown into fuses 187 of the correctable data fuses152 is the option for whether or not to run the fuse tests at resettime. Another difference is that the microcode 122 not only includes thereset-time fuse test microcode routines, but also includes theuser-initiated fuse test microcode routines. In one embodiment, asignificant part of the reset-time fuse test microcode routines and theuser-initiated fuse test microcode routines are the same code.Furthermore, the data fuse value 126 read from the correctable datafuses 152 into the temporary storage 144 includes the reset-time fusetest option fuse values 181. Additionally, the microprocessor 100includes a new MSR 172 that may be written by a user program, such as aBIOS or other system software, to cause the microprocessor 100 toperform the fuse tests and return an error status value in the MSR 172for the user program to read via a RDMSR instruction. Finally, otherrelevant functional units of the microprocessor 100, such as theinstruction translator 104, instruction decoder 108, execution units114, and microcode 122 are modified to decode and execute the WRMSR andRDMSR instructions directed to the new MSR 172, as described below withrespect to FIGS. 10 and 11.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a flowchart illustrating operation of stepsperformed to manufacture the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 7 is shown. Flowbegins at new block 800.

At block 800, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines whether toblow the reset-time fuse test option fuses 187 of FIG. 7. Flow proceedsto block 201.

At block 201, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines thesignature, which is the number of uncorrectable fuses 192 that will beblown. Flow proceeds to block 202.

At block 202, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines the desiredcontrol value to be blown into the correctable data fuses 152. The stepat block 202 of FIG. 8 is similar to the step at block 202 of FIG. 2.However, it is noted that the control value also includes the reset-timefuse test option fuse 187 values determined at block 800 and that willbe blown into the correctable data fuses 152 at block 206. Flow proceedsto block 204.

At block 204, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the controlvalue determined at block 202 to compute the EDAC value to be blown intothe EDAC fuses 132. The step at block 204 of FIG. 8 is similar to thestep at block 204 of FIG. 2. However, it is noted that the EDAC value iscomputed based on the control value that includes the reset-time fusetest option fuse 187 values determined at block 800 and that will beblown into the correctable data fuses 152 at block 206. Flow proceeds toblock 206.

At block 206, the manufacturer blows the control value determined atblock 202 into the data fuses 152 and blows the EDAC value computed atblock 204 into the EDAC fuses 132 similar to the step at block 206 ofFIG. 2. Additionally, the manufacturer blows the uncorrectable fuses192, and in particular blows the uncorrectable fuses 192 whose numberwas determined at block 201. Flow ends at block 206.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 7 is shown. The steps performed in FIG. 9 aresimilar to the steps performed in FIG. 3 with the following differencesnoted. The values read from the correctable data fuses 152 at block 304also include the reset-time fuse test option fuse values as discussedabove.

Additionally, flow proceeds from block 304 to new block 903. At block903, the reset microcode 122 ORs together the reset-time fuse testoption fuse values 181 read from the temporary storage 144 to generatean option bit value. Flow proceeds to new decision block 905.

At decision block 905, the reset microcode 122 determines whether thevalue generated at block 903 indicates to do the reset-time fuse tests.If so, flow proceeds to block 306; otherwise, flow ends.

Finally, flow proceeds from the “No” branch of decision block 314 to newdecision block 917.

At decision block 917, the reset microcode determines whether theuncorrectable failure was detected by a reset-time fuse test or by auser-initiated fuse test. If reset-time, flow proceeds to block 318;otherwise, flow proceeds to new block 919.

At block 919, the user-initiated fuse test microcode 122 loads the errorstatus value into the fuse test MSR 172 of FIG. 7. Flow ends at block919.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 7 to execute a WRMSR instruction directed tothe fuse test MSR 172 of FIG. 7 is shown. Flow begins at block 1002.

At block 1002, the user program executes a WRMSR instruction directed tothe fuse test MSR 172. Flow proceeds to block 1004.

At block 1004, the instruction translator 104 decodes the WRMSRinstruction and transfers control to the WRMSR handler in the microcode122, which calls the user-initiated fuse test microcode routine 122.Flow proceeds to block 1006.

At block 1006, the user-initiated fuse test microcode routine 122performs the fuse tests as described in blocks 306 through 326 of FIGS.3, 6, and/or 9. In particular, the microcode 122 populates the fuse testMSR 172 with the error status at block 919 of FIG. 9. Flow ends at block1006.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 7 to execute a RDMSR instruction directed tothe fuse test MSR 172 of FIG. 7 is shown. Flow begins at block 1102.

At block 1102, the user program executes a RDMSR instruction directed tothe fuse test MSR 172. Flow proceeds to block 1104.

At block 1104, the instruction translator 104 decodes the RDMSRinstruction and transfers control to the RDMSR handler in the microcode122, which copies the value from the fuse test MSR 172 to EDX-EAXregisters, which may be read by the user program. Flow ends at block1104.

Although embodiments have been described with respect to the x86architecture, other embodiments are contemplated that provide auser-initiated fuse test for processors of other architectures. Theextensive use of fuses in a microprocessor to accomplish many crucialfunctions generates a need for a reliable way to know when they havere-grown. The embodiments described above with respect to FIGS. 7through 11 help accomplish that goal by enabling the manufacturer togather more useful failure data from the field. Additionally, it mayprovide the user with a more meaningful failure indication than a deadsystem.

As described in the embodiments above, when the microprocessor powersup, some of the control values, namely those in the uncorrectable fuses,are scanned directly to hardware registers without giving the resetmicrocode the ability to correct them using the EDAC technique. In oneembodiment of the microprocessor, microcode could not even read theseuncorrectable fuses. Other embodiments are described above that enablethe uncorrectable fuses to be read to detect if there is an error in thecontrol value read from them. However, the embodiments described abovedo not enable the detected error to be corrected.

Embodiments are described below with respect to FIGS. 12 through 14 thatgive microcode the ability to correct the “uncorrectable” fuses.Specifically, the “uncorrectable” fuses now include EDAC fuses alongwith data fuses. At reset, the “uncorrectable” fuse values are read intoscan registers associated with each fuse bank. A state machine thenserially scans the “uncorrectable” data and EDAC fuse values from thescan registers into a microcode-readable register. The microcodecorrects the data fuse values if necessary and writes the correctedvalues to a microcode-writeable register, which causes the correctedvalues in the microcode-writeable register to be serially scanned backto the scan registers in the fuse banks The microcode then causes thecorrected values in the scan registers to be serially scanned back outto the control hardware, such as the cache correction control registersand PLL adjustment control registers.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a block diagram illustrating a microprocessor100 according to an alternate embodiment is shown. The microprocessor100 of FIG. 12 includes an instruction cache 102, instruction translator104, instruction dispatcher 106, execution units 114, microcode unit116, reset microcode 122, a fuse-blowing voltage input 136, andtemporary storage 144, similar to those described with respect to themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 1.

The microprocessor 100 also includes control hardware 194. The controlhardware 194 is configured to receive and store a control value 164 andto provide the control value 164 to various circuits of themicroprocessor 100 for controlling operation of the microprocessor 100.The control hardware 194 may control, but is not limited to, thefollowing: selection of redundant column of bitcells to replace a badcolumn of bitcells in a cache memory; the duty cycle or other controlsfor various phase-locked loops (PLLS) of the microprocessor 100; chargepump settings; PLL clock ratios; settings for input/output pads,including to allow debugging of multiprocessing features; whetherselective clocks are moved inside the microprocessor 100 to improvefrequency; redundancy of fuses in case other fuses fail; fuses used onlyby manufacturing for identification purposes; setting voltage identifier(VID) pins; and BSEL pins to control voltage and clock multipliers.

The microprocessor 100 also includes uncorrectable fuses 192. Theuncorrectable fuses 192 of FIG. 12 include both data fuses 195 and EDACfuses 193. The EDAC fuses 193 provide the ability for the microcode 122to correct the errors in the data fuses 195, such as due to fusere-growth, as described below.

The microprocessor 100 also includes scan registers 191 coupled to thedata fuses 195 and EDAC fuses 193 by a parallel interface. Themicroprocessor 100 also includes a microcode-readable register 196 and amicrocode-writeable register 197, each coupled to the execution units114. In one embodiment, the microcode-readable register 196 and themicrocode-writeable register 197 are each 64 bits wide. Themicroprocessor 100 also includes a state machine 199. The state machine199 is coupled by individual bi-directional serial interfaces to: thescan registers 191, the microcode-readable register 196, themicrocode-writeable register 197, and the control hardware 194. In oneembodiment, the state machine 199 is a common on-chip processor (COP)configured to, among other things, scan serial bit streams betweenstorage elements using the well-know JTAG mechanism. In one embodiment,the serial interfaces operate at a fraction of the core clock frequencyof the microprocessor 100; in one embodiment the fraction is one-eighth.This provides the advantage that the distances between the fuses 192,state machine 199, and control hardware 194 may be relatively far;additionally, the microcode-readable register 196 andmicrocode-writeable register 197—which interface the parallel domain ofthe microprocessor 100 (e.g., the execution units 114) and the serialdomain of the microprocessor 100 (e.g., the fuses 192, state machine199, and control hardware 194)—may be relatively close to the paralleldomain which operates at the full core clock frequency yet relativelyfar from the serial domain that operates at the fraction of the coreclock frequency.

Additionally, as described in more detail below, the reset microcode122: reads the data fuses 195 and writes the value read into thetemporary storage 144 as data fuse value 166; reads the EDAC fuses 193and writes the value read into the temporary storage 144 as EDAC fusevalue 168; and reads the data fuse value 166 and EDAC fuse value 168 togenerate a corrected data fuse value 158 that it writes into thetemporary storage 144 and subsequently reads from the temporary storage144 for use in writing to the microcode-writeable register 197.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a flowchart illustrating operation of stepsperformed to manufacture the microprocessor 100 of FIG. 12 is shown. Thesteps shown in FIG. 12 are similar to those described with respect toFIG. 2 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/609,207 (CNTR.2490);however, the steps are performed with respect to the uncorrectable fuses192 of FIG. 12 (namely the data fuses 195 and EDAC fuses 193), ratherthan with respect to the fuses 172 of FIG. 1, as will now be described.Flow begins at block 202.

At block 202, the microprocessor 100 manufacturer determines the desiredcontrol value to be blown into the data fuses 195. Each data fuse 195constitutes a single bit that has a binary value of either zero or one,depending on whether it is blown or non-blown. The bit value read fromeach data fuse 195 will be scanned to a bit of the control hardware 194,as described with respect to FIG. 14. Thus, at block 202, themanufacturer determines which of the fuses 192 will be allocated as adata fuse 195 and which of the fuses 192 will be allocated as an EDACfuse 193, associates each data fuse 195 with a bit in the controlhardware 194 and determines the desired bit value to be blown into thedata fuse 195. The manufacturer does this for each data fuse 195.Although each data fuse 195 constitutes a single bit, from theperspective of generating the value to be blown into the EDAC fuses 193(at block 204 below), the data fuses 195 are viewed as a single entityhaving a single collective value blown into them, or as a plurality ofwords each having a single collective value, as discussed more withrespect to block 204. In this sense, the single collective value ispredetermined prior to manufacture of the microprocessor 100 and priorto its operation after being manufactured. Flow proceeds from block 202to block 204.

At block 204, the manufacturer applies the EDAC algorithm to the controlvalue determined at block 202 to compute the EDAC value to be blown intothe EDAC fuses 193. The EDAC algorithm may be one of the algorithmsdiscussed above, including the vertical and horizontal code algorithmsdiscussed with respect to FIGS. 2 and 3. Flow proceeds to block 206.

At block 206, the manufacturer blows the control value determined atblock 202 into the data fuses 195 and blows the EDAC value computed atblock 204 into the EDAC fuses 193. Flow ends at block 206.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a flowchart illustrating operation of themicroprocessor 100 of FIG. 12 is shown. Some of the steps performed inthe blocks of FIG. 14 are illustrated in FIG. 12 with encircled numbers1 through 6, referred to below as steps (1) through (6). Flow begins atblock 1402.

At block 1402, the microprocessor 100 is reset and responsively beginsfetching and executing instructions of the reset microcode 122. Flowproceeds to block 1404.

At block 1404, as shown in step (1) of FIG. 12, the uncorrectable fuse192 values (i.e., the data fuse 195 values and the EDAC fuse 193 values)are loaded into the scan registers 191. Flow proceeds to block 1406.

At block 1406, as shown in step (2) of FIG. 12, the state machine 199serially scans the data fuse 195 values that were loaded into the scanregisters 191 at block 1404 into the control hardware 194 so that themicroprocessor 100 may operate with the initial values from the datafuses 195, even though it is possible that one or more of the data fuses195 have re-grown. This is necessary because the microprocessor 100cannot operate properly without the control hardware 194 being loadedwith at least some values. In one embodiment, there are on the order of1000 uncorrectable fuses 192 and sufficient scan registers 191 (each 32bits in one embodiment) to read them into; the scan registers 191 areserially connected in a sequential fashion such that their values may beserially scanned into and out of the scan registers 191, thereby savingsignificant wiring hardware that would be required to employ a parallelbus connecting each of the scan registers 191 to the state machine 199or other elements of the microprocessor 100. Flow proceeds to block1408.

At block 1408, as shown in step (3) of FIG. 12, the microcode 122executes instructions that cause the state machine 199 to read the datafuse 195 and EDAC fuse 193 values from the scan registers 191 to themicrocode-readable register 196. Flow proceeds to block 1412.

At block 1412, as shown in step (4) of FIG. 12, the reset microcode 122reads the microcode-readable register 196 and writes the data fuse value166 and EDAC fuse value 168 into the temporary storage 144. Then, thereset microcode 122, similar to the operation described in block 306 ofFIG. 3, applies the EDAC algorithm to the data fuse value 166 and EDACfuse value 168 to determine whether there is an error in the data fusevalue 166 and, if so, whether it is correctable. Flow proceeds todecision block 1414.

At decision block 1414, the microcode 122 determines whether there is anuncorrectable error in the data fuse value 166 based on the operationperformed at block 1412. If so, flow proceeds to block 1416; otherwise,flow proceeds to decision block 1418.

At block 1416, the reset microcode 122 prevents the microprocessor 100from coming out of reset because the number of bits in error in the datafuse value 166 is too great for the microprocessor 100 to correct usingthe EDAC fuse value 168. That is, the reset microcode 122 prevents themicroprocessor 100 from fetching and executing user programinstructions. In an alternate embodiment, the reset microcode 122 allowsthe microprocessor 100 to come out of reset, i.e., to fetch and executeuser program instructions such as BIOS or other system software;however, the reset microcode 122 sends an error status to the systemsoftware to indicate that there was an uncorrectable error in the datafuse value 166, similar to the operation described above with respect toblock 318 of FIG. 3. Flow ends at block 1416.

At block 1418, the reset microcode 122 corrects the erroneous data fusevalue 166, if necessary, using the EDAC algorithm to generate thecorrected data fuse value 158 and, as shown in step (5) of FIG. 12,writes the corrected data fuse value 158 to the microcode-writeableregister 197, which causes the state machine 199 to serially scan thecorrected values 158 that were written into the microcode-writeableregister 197 back to the scan registers 191. In one embodiment, themicroinstruction set of the microprocessor 100 includes an instructionto cause the state machine 199 to perform the operation. Flow proceedsto block 1422.

At block 1422, as shown in step (6) of FIG. 12, the microcode 122 causesthe state machine 199 to serially scan the corrected values from thescan registers 191 out to the control hardware 194 to control operationof the microprocessor 100 using the corrected values 158 rather than theinitial values that were scanned out during block 1406. Advantageously,if there were any correctable errors in the initial values, the errorsare now corrected. Flow proceeds to block 1424.

At block 1424, the microcode 122 completes its initialization of themicroprocessor 100 and then causes the microprocessor 100 to beginfetching and executing user instructions. Flow ends at block 1424.

In one embodiment, a portion of the data fuse 195 values received by thestate machine 199 from the scan registers 191 comprises addressinformation that specifies a destination location among the controlhardware registers 194 for the associated data. That is, the statemachine 199 processes the address information portion of the data fuse195 values and writes the data portion of the data fuse 195 values tothe appropriate control hardware register 194 specified by the addressbits. In this embodiment, the fact that, as described with respect toFIGS. 12 through 14, the microcode 122 corrects the data fuse value 166to create the corrected data fuse value 158 and causes the state machine199 to serially scan the corrected data fuse value 158 again to thecontrol hardware 194 implies that the microcode 122 corrects not onlythe data portion of the data fuse value 166, but also advantageouslycorrects the address portion of the data fuse value 166. Other benefitsare that the EDAC calculations performed by the microcode 122 are lesscomplex and there are potentially fewer bits to correct when an error isdetected than an embodiment in which the microcode was to read thevalues from the destination control hardware registers and use EDAC fusevalues to perform the error detection and correction on the values readfrom the destination control hardware registers. To illustrate by way ofan example, assume the uncorrectable fuses 192 are used to replace a badcolumn of bitcells in a cache memory with a redundant column ofbitcells. Assume there are 1024 columns in the cache memory, and each ofthe 1024 columns has an associated six-bit register in the controlhardware 194 to specify one of 64 redundant columns to use as areplacement for a bad column. That is, there are 1024 potentialdestination locations in the control hardware 194 to which a six-bitdata quantum from the corrected data fuse value 158 may need to bewritten in order to replace a bad column with one of 64 redundantcolumns. Thus, assume a configuration in which there are 64 sixteen-bitaddress/data fuse sets in the data fuses 195. More specifically, thefirst ten bits are an address indicating which of 1024 six-bit dataregisters in the destination control hardware 194 is to be altered fromits default value of zero, and the last six bits are the new data value.In this example, the embodiment of FIGS. 12 through 14 requires enoughEDAC fuses 193 to detect and correct only 64*16=1024 bits in the datafuse value 166. Whereas, in an embodiment in which the microcode was toread the values from the destination control hardware registers and useEDAC fuses to perform the error detection and correction, the microcodewould need to read all 1024 control registers, i.e., 1024*6=6,144 bits,to detect and correct an error since it would not know which of theregisters in the control hardware had an erroneous value, thus requiringmore EDAC fuses than the embodiment of FIGS. 12 through 14.

As may be observed from the foregoing, the apparatus and methoddescribed herein provide an advantage over the apparatus and methoddescribed with respect to FIGS. 1 through 11 above because theembodiments of FIGS. 12 through 14 enable both detection and correctionof errors in the uncorrectable fuses 192, whereas the apparatus andmethod described in FIGS. 1 through 11 only enable detection of errors.

The reset-time tests described in FIGS. 12 through 14 may also beperformed as user-initiated tests similar to the manner described withrespect to the embodiments of FIGS. 7 through 11.

An advantage of the apparatus and method described in FIGS. 12 through14 is that using serial buses to communicate with the scan registers 191and control hardware 194 may substantially reduce the number of wiresrequired to convey the corrected fuse values 164 to the control hardware194. This is because the fuses 192 may be located spatially far from thecontrol hardware 194 and/or there may be a large amount of controlhardware 194 that may need to be written with the corrected values.Additionally, providing a mechanism for the microcode 122 to perform theEDAC greatly simplifies the state machine 199 relative to a solution inwhich the state machine 199 performed the EDAC or a solution in whichEDAC is performed as the fuse values are loaded into the scan registers191.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedherein, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled inthe relevant computer arts that various changes in form and detail canbe made therein without departing from the scope of the invention. Forexample, software can enable, for example, the function, fabrication,modeling, simulation, description and/or testing of the apparatus andmethods described herein. This can be accomplished through the use ofgeneral programming languages (e.g., C, C++), hardware descriptionlanguages (HDL) including Verilog HDL, VHDL, and so on, or otheravailable programs. Such software can be disposed in any known computerusable medium such as magnetic tape, semiconductor, magnetic disk, oroptical disc (e.g., CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.), a network, wire line,wireless or other communications medium. Embodiments of the apparatusand method described herein may be included in a semiconductorintellectual property core, such as a microprocessor core (e.g.,embodied in HDL) and transformed to hardware in the production ofintegrated circuits. Additionally, the apparatus and methods describedherein may be embodied as a combination of hardware and software. Thus,the present invention should not be limited by any of the exemplaryembodiments described herein, but should be defined only in accordancewith the following claims and their equivalents. Specifically, thepresent invention may be implemented within a microprocessor devicewhich may be used in a general purpose computer. Finally, those skilledin the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosedconception and specific embodiments as a basis for designing ormodifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of thepresent invention without departing from the scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. A microprocessor, comprising: a first plurality of fuses, selectivelyblown with control values; a second plurality of fuses, selectivelyblown collectively with an error correction value computed from thecontrol values; control hardware, configured to receive the controlvalues and to provide the control values to circuits of themicroprocessor for controlling operation of the microprocessor; and astate machine, serially coupled to the control hardware and to the firstand second plurality of fuses, the state machine configured to seriallyscan the control values from the first plurality of fuses to the controlhardware and to serially scan the control values and the errorcorrection value to a first register; wherein the microprocessor isconfigured to: read the control values and error correction value fromthe first register; detect and correct an error in the control valuesusing the error correction value; write the corrected control values toa second register; and cause the state machine to serially scan thecorrected control values from the second register to the controlhardware.
 2. The microprocessor of claim 1, wherein the state machine isconfigured to serially scan the control values from the first pluralityof fuses to the control hardware in response to a reset of themicroprocessor.
 3. The microprocessor of claim 1, further comprising:microcode, configured to: read the control values and error correctionvalue from the first register; detect and correct an error in thecontrol values using the error correction value; write the correctedcontrol values to a second register; and cause the state machine toserially scan the corrected control values from the second register tothe control hardware.
 4. The microprocessor of claim 3, wherein themicrocode is further configured to cause the state machine to seriallyscan the control values and the error correction value to the firstregister.
 5. The microprocessor of claim 3, wherein the microcodecomprises instructions executable by execution units coupled to thefirst and second registers.
 6. The microprocessor of claim 1, wherein aportion of the control values include a plurality of address informationfor specifying to the state machine a destination register of thecontrol hardware for each of a corresponding plurality of datainformation of the control values.
 7. The microprocessor of claim 1,wherein the microprocessor is configured to prevent itself from fetchingand executing user program instructions if the microprocessor is unableto correct the error in the control value using the error correctionvalue.
 8. The microprocessor of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor isconfigured to generate a software-readable error status value if themicroprocessor is unable to correct the error in the control value usingthe error correction value.
 9. The microprocessor of claim 1, whereinthe first and second plurality of fuses are configured to be selectivelyblown during manufacture of the microprocessor.
 10. The microprocessorof claim 1, wherein the first and second registers are serially coupledto the state machine.
 11. A method for initializing a microprocessor,the method comprising: serially scanning control values from a firstplurality of fuses to circuits of the microprocessor for controllingoperation of the microprocessor, wherein the first plurality of fusesare selectively blown with the control values; serially scanning thecontrol values from the first plurality of fuses and an error correctionvalue from a second plurality of fuses to a first register, wherein thesecond plurality of fuses are selectively blown collectively with anerror correction value computed from the control values; reading thecontrol values and the error correction value from the first register;detecting and correcting an error in the control values using the errorcorrection value; writing the corrected control values to a secondregister; and causing the corrected control values to be seriallyscanned from the second register to the control hardware.
 12. The methodof claim 11, wherein said serially scanning control values from thefirst plurality of fuses to the circuits is performed in response to areset of the microprocessor.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein saidreading the control values and the error correction value from the firstregister, detecting and correcting an error in the control values usingthe error correction value, writing the corrected control values to asecond register, and causing the corrected control values to be seriallyscanned from the second register to the control hardware are performedby microcode of the microprocessor.
 14. The method of claim 13, whereinthe microcode is further configured to cause said serially scanning thecontrol values from the first plurality of fuses and an error correctionvalue from a second plurality of fuses to a first register.
 15. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the microcode comprises instructionsexecutable by execution units coupled to the first and second registers.16. The method of claim 11, wherein a portion of the control valuesinclude a plurality of address information for specifying a destinationregister for each of a corresponding plurality of data information ofthe control values.
 17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:preventing the microprocessor from fetching and executing user programinstructions if the microprocessor is unable to correct the error in thecontrol value using the error correction value.
 18. The method of claim11, further comprising: generating a software-readable error statusvalue if the microprocessor is unable to correct the error in thecontrol value using the error correction value.
 19. The method of claim11, wherein said causing the corrected control values to be seriallyscanned from the second register to the control hardware is performedprior to the microprocessor fetching and executing user programinstructions.
 20. A computer program product encoded in at least onecomputer readable medium for use with a computing device, the computerprogram product comprising: computer readable program code embodied insaid medium, for specifying a microprocessor, the computer readableprogram code comprising: first program code for specifying a firstplurality of fuses, selectively blown with control values; secondprogram code for specifying a second plurality of fuses, selectivelyblown collectively with an error correction value computed from thecontrol values; third program code for specifying control hardware,configured to receive the control values and to provide the controlvalues to circuits of the microprocessor for controlling operation ofthe microprocessor; and fourth program code for specifying a statemachine, serially coupled to the control hardware and to the first andsecond plurality of fuses, the state machine configured to serially scanthe control values from the first plurality of fuses to the controlhardware and to serially scan the control values and the errorcorrection value to a first register; wherein the microprocessor isconfigured to: read the control values and error correction value fromthe first register; detect and correct an error in the control valuesusing the error correction value; write the corrected control values toa second register; and cause the state machine to serially scan thecorrected control values from the second register to the controlhardware.
 21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the atleast one computer readable medium is selected from the set of a disk,tape, or other magnetic, optical, or electronic storage medium and anetwork, wire line, wireless or other communications medium.